Scripture: Romans 8:31-40
Listen Link: https://www.lcepc.org/blogger
Do we ever wonder what it might really be like to live as if we were more than conquerors? What is it that we are supposed to conquer anyway? Our own sins? That’s certainly part of it, as God leads us to allow Christ’s character to be formed in us. But there’s got to be a community aspect to this too. What are we supposed to conquer together as the body of Christ? How do we today as modern Christians face death all day long as Paul did? What would that look like for us today? What does God really want from us now?
Our mission is clearly stated by Jesus in Matthew 28: “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
I just got this great statement from an African Pastor in Nigeria. We’re Facebook friends: “There can be no true discipleship without profound and unquestioning faith in the living God. He who would do exploits for God must first trust Him implicitly. All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on God being with them.”
Here’s another great quote I recently read in a book about discipleship called “The Power of the 72.” The author, Pastor John Teter said, “Success in ministry is not measured by how many come, but by how many go.” God is calling us to venture forth as workers in his harvest field. As we conquer our own fears of doing that great work, we will see a more fruitful harvest.
There is a message for us about that in the book of Numbers. As we read through the chronological Bible together, we cover a lot of Biblical material. If you’re not reading along with us, you may at times have no idea what I am talking about because I might just mention it briefly. I always hope that the main points of the message will still come through clearly, but this is to encourage you to read along with us. I still have a couple more of those Chronological Bibles if you need one.
Also, sometimes it will be good to look back and review all that we’ve read with some summary statements. Today is a good day to do that. We are very close to the transition from Moses’ leadership to Joshua’s leadership. We are very close to the transition from wandering in the wilderness to conquering the land of Canaan. And we are at a juncture in which Balaam played a pivotal role.
He was hired by an enemy king to curse God’s people, but he couldn’t do it because God put the fear of God into him! But what he couldn’t do by religion, he did do through culture. Balaam couldn’t curse the people directly with his words, but he did curse them by exploiting a weakness in their own human nature. He couldn’t get God to do it. But it seems pretty easy to get people to do almost anything!
In an important sense, Balaam was Moab's answer to Moses, the man of God. Balaam was also called a man of God. He also had a reputation of hearing from God and speaking for God, a lot like Moses, only working for the wrong side. In another sense, Balaam is almost a comic relief. The part about the donkey talking is actually called a lampoon, by some scholars. But his story has a very significant purpose. In order to understand that purpose, allow me to give a brief recap of the book of Numbers and pick out the important themes that lead up to God’s use of Balaam.
In telling the story of Israel's desert wanderings, Numbers teaches us many important things about God. During the first year after her deliverance from Egypt, mostly told in the book of Exodus, Israel entered into covenant with the Lord at Sinai to be the people of his kingdom, among whom he pitched his royal tent. That’s the tabernacle. As the account of Numbers begins, the Lord organized Israel into a military camp.
It’s almost another version of creation. God brought order out of chaos by assigning the people to their rank and file. Each of the twelve tribes was given a specific place to camp around the tabernacle, three tribes on each of the four sides. To me it is significant that their camp was organized in the shape of a cross! And perhaps because they were mostly traveling to the East, the tabernacle door always faced East and the camps moved out starting with those on the east after the tabernacle has been taken down and the Ark of the Covenant was brought out into the front to lead the army. But another reason to face east is a spiritual one. The door of the tabernacle and thus the whole camp, was always oriented to look to the rising sun, in anticipation of the rising of God’s own Son!
Leaving Sinai, Israel marches forth as a conquering army, with the Lord at her head, to establish his kingdom in the Promised Land, in the midst of the nations. This book of Numbers graphically portrays Israel's identity as the Lord's redeemed covenant people and her vocation as the servant people of God, charged with establishing his kingdom on earth. Israel is marching to the Promised Land. But it’s not just about Israel.
We learn here that God means to use his army to invade the arena of fallen humanity, execute judgment upon sinners, and take the next step in his plan for redeeming all of creation. God had told Abraham that peoples of all the nations would be blessed through his children. But first, the sins of those pagan nations must be dealt with. So, the army of God is moving out to administer God’s judgement. It’s similar for the earth and for individuals too. To receive the blessing of salvation, first you have to deal with sin and repent. The Israelites will have to take their land by force. This is the mission. And God requires his people to be totally engaged in it.
For one year, the people were obedient as everything was being arranged and set up. In the first nine chapters of Numbers we hear ten times that the people did everything just as the Lord commanded. But as soon as it was time to move out, we start to hear about the complaining: “We were better off in Egypt! Why don’t we go back?” For a while I wondered why nobody suggested just staying around Sinai and spreading out to make a nation right there around the Holy Mountain. But I soon realized, that place was a wasteland. Nobody could make a living off that land. That’s why it was unoccupied before they got there. That’s why there was no nation living there to complain against the Israelites camping there. And I think God was wise to have his children camp in a place where they could not get very comfortable. But even that was still better than marching off to war.
I believe that even before they left Sinai, most of the children of Israel began to worry about whether they could really be a conquering army. They knew they were inexperienced at war. I believe they were terrified of fighting, even before they heard the report of the 12 spies. The spies were supposed to encourage and entice the people with the glowing report of what awaited them in the Land of Milk and Honey. But ten of the spies decided to chime in with the popular opinion. They didn’t want to go to war and they were looking for good excuses to stay out. They called Egypt the land flowing with milk and honey! So, God had to become a drill sergeant to whip them into shape.
The people dreaded war and rebelled against following God and going along with his plans, so Numbers is also filled with stories that present the chastening wrath of God against his disobedient people. Because of her rebellion (and especially their refusal to undertake the conquest of Canaan), Israel was in breach of covenant. The book presents a sobering reality: The God who had entered into covenant with Abraham, who had delivered his people from bondage in the exodus, who had brought Israel into covenant with himself as his "treasured possession" and who had revealed his holiness and the gracious means of approaching him, was also a God of wrath. And his wrath was not just poured out upon Israel’s enemies. Even the children of Israel could themselves become God’s enemies when they opposed his will.
But God was not mean. There were still signs of his grace and teachings that salvation would come through faith. That’s what the snake on the bronze pole was all about. If they believe that just looking at a snake on a pole could save them from a deadly snake bite, they would be saved. God gave the punishment and the way of escape. But He rolled up his sleeves and did what had to be done. Our God is an awesome God. Even Moses, the great prophet and servant of the Lord, whom God called friend and spoke to face to face, was not exempt from God's wrath when he disobeyed God.
After 40 years of wandering and rebellion, the entire first generation has passed away except for Joshua and Caleb. God has been mad at them and punishing them for rebellion. Now what’s going to happen? The questions arise: Is God finished with the nation as a whole? Are his promises a thing of the past? Can the children of Israel really expect God to get them into the Promised Land after all that has happened in the last forty years? In one of the most remarkable sections of the Bible--the account of Balaam, the pagan diviner --the reply is given. The Lord, working in a providential and direct way, proclaims his continued faithfulness to his people despite their unfaithfulness to him. Balaam proclaims God’s blessings over them!
Balaam is Moab's answer to Moses, the man of God. Like Moses, he is an internationally known prophet. Unlike Moses, he shares the pagan belief that the God of Israel is like any other deity who might be manipulated by acts of magic or sorcery, or the right kind of sacrifices. But from the early part of the narrative, when Balaam first encounters the one true God in visions, and in the story of his journey on the donkey, Balaam begins to learn that dealing with the true God is fundamentally different from anything he has ever known. When he attempts to curse Israel at the instigation of Balak king of Moab, Balaam finds his mouth unable to express the curse he desires to pronounce. Instead, from his lips come blessings on Israel and curses on her enemies.
After forty years of wandering, sinning and rebelling against God, the children of Israel, the descendants of the original escapees are finally back at the border of the Land of Promise. It would only be natural for all of them to be wondering what’s going to happen now. Is God really going to help us this time?
How effective would it be for any Israelite to try to encourage all the rest by proclaiming, “God is with us!” That had been done before. Twelve spies were sent into Canaan forty years before. Ten gave a bad report. Only Joshua and Caleb cried out, “Don’t be afraid. God is with us. We can take the land.” But the people were afraid and would rather stone the encouragers than believe them. So, this time, if Joshua or any other Israelite were to issue the proclamation of God’s presence and blessing again, would it be any more effective this time than it was the first time? I’m quite sure it would not. Even if the Israelites wanted to believe it, it would be harder for them to do so because of all the trouble they had been to God during the forty years of wandering.
But as unbelievable as it is, against all common sense and reason, God will bless his people. God knew that his children needed a good pep rally to encourage them to be strong and courageous and believe that He would be with them as they moved in to conquer the land. God wanted to proclaim his blessings in a way his children could not ignore. So, he hired the least likely candidate, Balaam. Balaam was used of God to encourage his people and strengthen them for the new adventure that is coming. Balaam, was uniquely qualified to have the greatest impact on the children of God.
If Moses, Joshua, or any other child of Israel had tried to reassure the people, their response would have been, “Yeah, yeah you had to say that.” But Balaam was supposed to be an enemy. Indeed, he wanted to curse the people and he definitely was an enemy. But God made him bless the Israelites. God sent his message through someone who didn’t have to say it, didn’t even want to say it, but God made Balaam say it. That way the Israelites would know that the blessing pronounced really had to have come from God. And it was the first sign that God would go before them to conquer the enemy and prepare the way for easy victory. God had already conquered Balaam! Balaam was God’s answer to any doubt that might lie in the hearts of his precious children.
Balaam blessed the people of God seven times while King Balak was desperately trying to get Balaam to curse them. Though the immediate enjoyment of this blessing would always depend on the faithfulness of his people, the ultimate realization of God's blessing is certain to come true--because of the character and power of God. Thus, Numbers reaffirms the ongoing purposes of God. Despite his judgment on his rebellious people, God is still determined to bring Israel into the land of promise. His blessing to her rests in his sovereign will.
The teaching of the book has lasting significance for Israel and for the church. God does display his wrath even against his own errant people, but his grace is renewed as surely as is the dawn and his redemptive purpose will not be thwarted.
Here’s the main thing I want you to remember from all this. We are still God’s people, led and empowered by God’s blessing to accomplish God’s purposes in us and in the world. Romans 8:31-40 speaks of this. “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So, for us today, what will it look like for us to live as more than conquerors? How does our community, as a significant portion of the Body of Christ, a regiment in the people of God, go forth to spiritual warfare, with confidence in God’s guidance and blessing? We must learn how to do evangelism in today’s world and not be afraid of the effort. Early last week I was speaking to someone who lives in this town. As we talked, it turns out a lot of you know her. She kept saying, “Really? So and so goes to your church? I didn’t know that!” Then I really wondered why so few of her friends who attend here, ever told her they attend here?
My question to all of us is, how many people of your acquaintance know where you go to church? Why is even that simple little bit of information so hard to share? No one should be embarrassed about that. This congregation has a good reputation in this town. I’ll give you one caveat. Maybe you told her but she forgot. However, she talked about one of the persons she mentioned this way, “I know she’s from here. She keeps working on me and inviting me to come.” And guess what? She did not indicate that she was annoyed by those invitations. Instead, she knows that person cares about her.
We must, as the faith full, faith filled community of God, body of Christ, boldly go and “conquer,” so to speak, God’s enemies, by introducing them to Jesus and giving them the opportunity to become his friends. Let us live with assurance that through Jesus Christ we are more than conquerors. And that will make us courageous to do the work of evangelism. Amen.
Listen Link: https://www.lcepc.org/blogger
Do we ever wonder what it might really be like to live as if we were more than conquerors? What is it that we are supposed to conquer anyway? Our own sins? That’s certainly part of it, as God leads us to allow Christ’s character to be formed in us. But there’s got to be a community aspect to this too. What are we supposed to conquer together as the body of Christ? How do we today as modern Christians face death all day long as Paul did? What would that look like for us today? What does God really want from us now?
Our mission is clearly stated by Jesus in Matthew 28: “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
I just got this great statement from an African Pastor in Nigeria. We’re Facebook friends: “There can be no true discipleship without profound and unquestioning faith in the living God. He who would do exploits for God must first trust Him implicitly. All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on God being with them.”
Here’s another great quote I recently read in a book about discipleship called “The Power of the 72.” The author, Pastor John Teter said, “Success in ministry is not measured by how many come, but by how many go.” God is calling us to venture forth as workers in his harvest field. As we conquer our own fears of doing that great work, we will see a more fruitful harvest.
There is a message for us about that in the book of Numbers. As we read through the chronological Bible together, we cover a lot of Biblical material. If you’re not reading along with us, you may at times have no idea what I am talking about because I might just mention it briefly. I always hope that the main points of the message will still come through clearly, but this is to encourage you to read along with us. I still have a couple more of those Chronological Bibles if you need one.
Also, sometimes it will be good to look back and review all that we’ve read with some summary statements. Today is a good day to do that. We are very close to the transition from Moses’ leadership to Joshua’s leadership. We are very close to the transition from wandering in the wilderness to conquering the land of Canaan. And we are at a juncture in which Balaam played a pivotal role.
He was hired by an enemy king to curse God’s people, but he couldn’t do it because God put the fear of God into him! But what he couldn’t do by religion, he did do through culture. Balaam couldn’t curse the people directly with his words, but he did curse them by exploiting a weakness in their own human nature. He couldn’t get God to do it. But it seems pretty easy to get people to do almost anything!
In an important sense, Balaam was Moab's answer to Moses, the man of God. Balaam was also called a man of God. He also had a reputation of hearing from God and speaking for God, a lot like Moses, only working for the wrong side. In another sense, Balaam is almost a comic relief. The part about the donkey talking is actually called a lampoon, by some scholars. But his story has a very significant purpose. In order to understand that purpose, allow me to give a brief recap of the book of Numbers and pick out the important themes that lead up to God’s use of Balaam.
In telling the story of Israel's desert wanderings, Numbers teaches us many important things about God. During the first year after her deliverance from Egypt, mostly told in the book of Exodus, Israel entered into covenant with the Lord at Sinai to be the people of his kingdom, among whom he pitched his royal tent. That’s the tabernacle. As the account of Numbers begins, the Lord organized Israel into a military camp.
It’s almost another version of creation. God brought order out of chaos by assigning the people to their rank and file. Each of the twelve tribes was given a specific place to camp around the tabernacle, three tribes on each of the four sides. To me it is significant that their camp was organized in the shape of a cross! And perhaps because they were mostly traveling to the East, the tabernacle door always faced East and the camps moved out starting with those on the east after the tabernacle has been taken down and the Ark of the Covenant was brought out into the front to lead the army. But another reason to face east is a spiritual one. The door of the tabernacle and thus the whole camp, was always oriented to look to the rising sun, in anticipation of the rising of God’s own Son!
Leaving Sinai, Israel marches forth as a conquering army, with the Lord at her head, to establish his kingdom in the Promised Land, in the midst of the nations. This book of Numbers graphically portrays Israel's identity as the Lord's redeemed covenant people and her vocation as the servant people of God, charged with establishing his kingdom on earth. Israel is marching to the Promised Land. But it’s not just about Israel.
We learn here that God means to use his army to invade the arena of fallen humanity, execute judgment upon sinners, and take the next step in his plan for redeeming all of creation. God had told Abraham that peoples of all the nations would be blessed through his children. But first, the sins of those pagan nations must be dealt with. So, the army of God is moving out to administer God’s judgement. It’s similar for the earth and for individuals too. To receive the blessing of salvation, first you have to deal with sin and repent. The Israelites will have to take their land by force. This is the mission. And God requires his people to be totally engaged in it.
For one year, the people were obedient as everything was being arranged and set up. In the first nine chapters of Numbers we hear ten times that the people did everything just as the Lord commanded. But as soon as it was time to move out, we start to hear about the complaining: “We were better off in Egypt! Why don’t we go back?” For a while I wondered why nobody suggested just staying around Sinai and spreading out to make a nation right there around the Holy Mountain. But I soon realized, that place was a wasteland. Nobody could make a living off that land. That’s why it was unoccupied before they got there. That’s why there was no nation living there to complain against the Israelites camping there. And I think God was wise to have his children camp in a place where they could not get very comfortable. But even that was still better than marching off to war.
I believe that even before they left Sinai, most of the children of Israel began to worry about whether they could really be a conquering army. They knew they were inexperienced at war. I believe they were terrified of fighting, even before they heard the report of the 12 spies. The spies were supposed to encourage and entice the people with the glowing report of what awaited them in the Land of Milk and Honey. But ten of the spies decided to chime in with the popular opinion. They didn’t want to go to war and they were looking for good excuses to stay out. They called Egypt the land flowing with milk and honey! So, God had to become a drill sergeant to whip them into shape.
The people dreaded war and rebelled against following God and going along with his plans, so Numbers is also filled with stories that present the chastening wrath of God against his disobedient people. Because of her rebellion (and especially their refusal to undertake the conquest of Canaan), Israel was in breach of covenant. The book presents a sobering reality: The God who had entered into covenant with Abraham, who had delivered his people from bondage in the exodus, who had brought Israel into covenant with himself as his "treasured possession" and who had revealed his holiness and the gracious means of approaching him, was also a God of wrath. And his wrath was not just poured out upon Israel’s enemies. Even the children of Israel could themselves become God’s enemies when they opposed his will.
But God was not mean. There were still signs of his grace and teachings that salvation would come through faith. That’s what the snake on the bronze pole was all about. If they believe that just looking at a snake on a pole could save them from a deadly snake bite, they would be saved. God gave the punishment and the way of escape. But He rolled up his sleeves and did what had to be done. Our God is an awesome God. Even Moses, the great prophet and servant of the Lord, whom God called friend and spoke to face to face, was not exempt from God's wrath when he disobeyed God.
After 40 years of wandering and rebellion, the entire first generation has passed away except for Joshua and Caleb. God has been mad at them and punishing them for rebellion. Now what’s going to happen? The questions arise: Is God finished with the nation as a whole? Are his promises a thing of the past? Can the children of Israel really expect God to get them into the Promised Land after all that has happened in the last forty years? In one of the most remarkable sections of the Bible--the account of Balaam, the pagan diviner --the reply is given. The Lord, working in a providential and direct way, proclaims his continued faithfulness to his people despite their unfaithfulness to him. Balaam proclaims God’s blessings over them!
Balaam is Moab's answer to Moses, the man of God. Like Moses, he is an internationally known prophet. Unlike Moses, he shares the pagan belief that the God of Israel is like any other deity who might be manipulated by acts of magic or sorcery, or the right kind of sacrifices. But from the early part of the narrative, when Balaam first encounters the one true God in visions, and in the story of his journey on the donkey, Balaam begins to learn that dealing with the true God is fundamentally different from anything he has ever known. When he attempts to curse Israel at the instigation of Balak king of Moab, Balaam finds his mouth unable to express the curse he desires to pronounce. Instead, from his lips come blessings on Israel and curses on her enemies.
After forty years of wandering, sinning and rebelling against God, the children of Israel, the descendants of the original escapees are finally back at the border of the Land of Promise. It would only be natural for all of them to be wondering what’s going to happen now. Is God really going to help us this time?
How effective would it be for any Israelite to try to encourage all the rest by proclaiming, “God is with us!” That had been done before. Twelve spies were sent into Canaan forty years before. Ten gave a bad report. Only Joshua and Caleb cried out, “Don’t be afraid. God is with us. We can take the land.” But the people were afraid and would rather stone the encouragers than believe them. So, this time, if Joshua or any other Israelite were to issue the proclamation of God’s presence and blessing again, would it be any more effective this time than it was the first time? I’m quite sure it would not. Even if the Israelites wanted to believe it, it would be harder for them to do so because of all the trouble they had been to God during the forty years of wandering.
But as unbelievable as it is, against all common sense and reason, God will bless his people. God knew that his children needed a good pep rally to encourage them to be strong and courageous and believe that He would be with them as they moved in to conquer the land. God wanted to proclaim his blessings in a way his children could not ignore. So, he hired the least likely candidate, Balaam. Balaam was used of God to encourage his people and strengthen them for the new adventure that is coming. Balaam, was uniquely qualified to have the greatest impact on the children of God.
If Moses, Joshua, or any other child of Israel had tried to reassure the people, their response would have been, “Yeah, yeah you had to say that.” But Balaam was supposed to be an enemy. Indeed, he wanted to curse the people and he definitely was an enemy. But God made him bless the Israelites. God sent his message through someone who didn’t have to say it, didn’t even want to say it, but God made Balaam say it. That way the Israelites would know that the blessing pronounced really had to have come from God. And it was the first sign that God would go before them to conquer the enemy and prepare the way for easy victory. God had already conquered Balaam! Balaam was God’s answer to any doubt that might lie in the hearts of his precious children.
Balaam blessed the people of God seven times while King Balak was desperately trying to get Balaam to curse them. Though the immediate enjoyment of this blessing would always depend on the faithfulness of his people, the ultimate realization of God's blessing is certain to come true--because of the character and power of God. Thus, Numbers reaffirms the ongoing purposes of God. Despite his judgment on his rebellious people, God is still determined to bring Israel into the land of promise. His blessing to her rests in his sovereign will.
The teaching of the book has lasting significance for Israel and for the church. God does display his wrath even against his own errant people, but his grace is renewed as surely as is the dawn and his redemptive purpose will not be thwarted.
Here’s the main thing I want you to remember from all this. We are still God’s people, led and empowered by God’s blessing to accomplish God’s purposes in us and in the world. Romans 8:31-40 speaks of this. “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So, for us today, what will it look like for us to live as more than conquerors? How does our community, as a significant portion of the Body of Christ, a regiment in the people of God, go forth to spiritual warfare, with confidence in God’s guidance and blessing? We must learn how to do evangelism in today’s world and not be afraid of the effort. Early last week I was speaking to someone who lives in this town. As we talked, it turns out a lot of you know her. She kept saying, “Really? So and so goes to your church? I didn’t know that!” Then I really wondered why so few of her friends who attend here, ever told her they attend here?
My question to all of us is, how many people of your acquaintance know where you go to church? Why is even that simple little bit of information so hard to share? No one should be embarrassed about that. This congregation has a good reputation in this town. I’ll give you one caveat. Maybe you told her but she forgot. However, she talked about one of the persons she mentioned this way, “I know she’s from here. She keeps working on me and inviting me to come.” And guess what? She did not indicate that she was annoyed by those invitations. Instead, she knows that person cares about her.
We must, as the faith full, faith filled community of God, body of Christ, boldly go and “conquer,” so to speak, God’s enemies, by introducing them to Jesus and giving them the opportunity to become his friends. Let us live with assurance that through Jesus Christ we are more than conquerors. And that will make us courageous to do the work of evangelism. Amen.
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